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TOP TALKER — SEXUAL ASSAULT UNCHECKED AS DoD DUCKS REFORM, via POLITICO's Darren Samuelsohn: "In 2010, the parents of a Texas high school student told an Air Force officer they were concerned a recruiter was sending their daughter inappropriate text messages, showing up at her work and spreading rumors. The officer listened to the complaint, but it went no further — a common practice for popular [service members], according to a senior Defense Department official with knowledge of the case.

A year later, the parent of another teenage girl found suggestive photos in her text messages from the same recruiter, Tech. Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez.

This time investigators dug in, eventually speaking with more than a dozen young women, some who met Rodriguez after the first complaint, who said his behavior ranged from unwanted advances to rape. Rodriguez began serving a 27-year military prison sentence in June on a slew of sex crimes, the worst of which was aggravated sexual assault.

The case is just one example of what the Pentagon’s own reports have concluded on sex crimes in the ranks: More than 90 percent of them are committed by predators who strike repeatedly, using positions of power, a weak reporting system and the culture of moving service members and officers from base to base every two or three years where they can prey on victims, over and over again." http://politi.co/12YWkTM.

MUST SEE VIDEO: Darren explains how and why sexual assault went unchecked in military on the latest edition of POLITICO/92Y series "Political Speak" http://politi.co/13Lkb41

ACCUSED FORT HOOD GUNMAN SAYS EVIDENCE WILL 'CLEARLY SHOW' HE'S THE SHOOTER: The Washington Post's Billy Kenber in Killeen, Texas.: "He looked frail as he sat in his wheelchair dressed in his Army fatigues, but Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was bluntly unapologetic Tuesday morning when he spoke to a jury of military officers who will decide whether he should be executed for the 2009 Fort Hood shootings.

'Fellow members, good morning,' Hasan began, at the opening of his court-martial at Fort Hood. 'On November 5, 2009, 13 U.S. soldiers were killed and many more injured. The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter.'" http://wapo.st/1c99zVN

HAPPY WEDNESDAY, and welcome to POLITICO's Morning Defense, where Kansas City residents – including your host – should be proud (or something like that) of the Kansas City Royals fan who climbed into a fountain in the Kauffman Stadium outfield Monday night, frozen drink in hand (http://deadsp.in/15M449K). While D.C. during August recess isn’t quite that lively, we’re always on the lookout for the latest defense news. Send tips my way at jsummers@politico.com. Don't forget to follow on Twitter @jmsummers and @morningdefense.

PENTAGON CUTS FURLOUGHS, MAKES NO PROMISES, via POLITICO's Philip Ewing: "The Pentagon said Tuesday it’s reducing furlough days from 11 to six for this fiscal year, but despite the near-term reprieve for its enormous workforce, there was little optimism about a break in Washington’s broader deadlock over resolving sequestration. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a message to DoD workers that the Pentagon’s reprogramming request from earlier this year and “aggressive action” in transferring funds, as well as the previous furloughs themselves, had saved enough money to cut back on the involuntary days off.

Even so, he warned that unless Congress undoes sequestration, he cannot promise there won’t be furloughs or worse in fiscal year 2014. In fact, department leaders have previously warned the Pentagon might even need to resort to involuntary job and troop cuts, or 'reductions in force.'" http://politico.pro/15M1joN

LAWMAKERS, UNIONS PRAISE FURLOUGH REDUCTION: While lawmakers applauded the department's move, they cautioned it was only a short-term bandage and would not alleviate the budget pressures the department faces.

"While I am pleased that the department found a way to alleviate furloughs and introduce a little more certainty into the workforce, I would caution that we are still miles away from resolving sequestration," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon said, adding that he feared "furloughs will turn to layoffs."

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said the news would bring a "measure of relief" to DoD civilian staffers but that "our military readiness remains significantly eroded."

And David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union representing civilian defense workers, said the announcement "suggests that he has finally realized that furloughs are costly in terms of dollars, readiness, and morale."

"The terrible economic harm and injustice that has already been done to the 650,000 DoD civilians who should have never been furloughed has yet to be addressed." he said, urging Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel "to take immediate action to reimburse the furloughed employees for the six days of income they have lost."

SCHOOL’S IN SESSION: The Pentagon's decision yesterday means that the roughly 84,000 students in DoD schools will no longer miss five days between the start of the school year and the end of September.

MANNING MAXIMUM SENTENCE REDUCED, via The Associated Press: "Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s possible sentence for disclosing classified information through WikiLeaks was trimmed from 136 years to 90 years Tuesday by a military judge who said some of his offenses were closely related. The ruling was largely a victory for defense attorneys, who had argued for an 80-year maximum. Still, the 25-year-old soldier could spend most, if not all, of his remaining years inside a prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas." http://politi.co/19MA0Pr

OBAMA DEFENDS NSA SURVEILLANCE, via POLITICO's Isaac Dovere: "Pressed by Jay Leno about the surveillance operations revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, President Barack Obama expressed frustration that the programs had gone public, but said he had every confidence that they were being pursued properly.

'We don’t have a domestic spying program. What we do have is some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address that is connected to a terrorist attack,' Obama told Leno on Tuesday night." http://politi.co/19MzssO

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JUSTICE DEPT. REPORTEDLY CHARGED LIBYAN MILITANTS OVER BENGHAZI, via Bloomberg's Phil Mattingly: "U.S. prosecutors filed a sealed criminal complaint against a Libyan man suspected of playing a leading role in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, according to two people briefed on the case. Ahmed Abu Khattalah was charged in connection with the attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the sealed complaint. They declined to specify the charges in the case." http://bloom.bg/1c9aHsC

"If our government knows who perpetrated the attack that killed four Americans, it is critical that they be questioned and placed in custody of U.S. officials without delay," Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in response to the reports. "Delays in apprehending the suspected Benghazi killers will only put American lives at further and needless risk."

MCCAIN, GRAHAM: IT WAS A COUP: Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who arrived in Egypt earlier this week, argued that the removal of President Mohamed Morsi was a military coup, a message at odds with that of the Obama administration.

Pressed by international reporters on their definition of a coup, McCain said: "I'm not here to go through the dictionary. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."

INHOFE SLAMS SEQUESTRATION IN AIR FORCE ASSOCIATION SPEECH: Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is slamming President Barack Obama, arguing that the president is "intentionally doing what he can to disarm America."

"We are at the point of a hollow force in America today. We have a president who is disarming America. The threat that's out there is a serious threat," Inhofe said in a speech yesterday to members of the Air Force Association.

CIA SEES SYRIA AS TOP THREAT, via The Wall Street Journal's Siobhan Gorman: "The Central Intelligence Agency’s second-in-command warned that Syria’s volatile mix of Al Qaeda extremism and civil war now pose the greatest threat to U.S. national security. Michael Morell says the risk is that the Syrian government, which possesses chemical and other advanced weapons, collapses and the country becomes al Qaeda’s new safe haven, supplanting Pakistan."

STUDY: MILITARY SUICIDE SPIKED NOT LINKED TO COMBAT EXPOSURE: A study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that deployments and combat exposure were not to blame for the increase in military suicides between 2001 and 2008. It found that the factors most significant in the increase in military suicides were similar to those in the civilian world and include both mental illness and substance abuse.

"The findings from this study are not consistent with the assumption that specific deployment-related characteristics, such as length of deployment, number of deployments, or combat experiences, are directly associated with increased suicide risk," the study's authors wrote. "Instead, the risk factors associated with suicide in this military population are consistent with civilian populations, including male sex and mental disorders."

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